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Cowichan Valley memorial hockey worth celebrating

Gathering with families affected by tragedy a big part of the healing process
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Rob Kernachan, one of the honouree family members, at Fuller Lake Arena during the Cowichan Valley Memorial Midget C Tournament. (Photo by Don Bodger)

Unless you’ve gone through it yourself, it’s hard to imagine what it’s like for parents to lose a son or daughter through tragic circumstances.

In the proper order of things, parents are obviously supposed to die before their kids, but we all know fate can intervene - often in the most horrific ways.

While people in larger cities tend to become almost immune to accidents that claim lives because it happens frequently, that’s not the case in smaller communities.

These incidents that result in deaths to a young person hit many who are well-known to us hard. That’s what makes events like the Cowichan Valley Memorial Midget C Hockey Tournament so special.

It’s about bringing people together in a positive atmosphere to help with the healing process that never really stops for these parents - and grandparents, brothers and sisters and other family members to the same degree.

John Andrews says the tournament is “kind of therapy for me” in dealing with the death from a head-on vehicle collision in 2015 in Nanaimo that claimed his son Zak, who was approaching just 20 years old.

It’s amazing the numbers who’ve been affected by similar incidents in this area over many, many years. Full credit to Kathy Irving and her tournament committee for doing something to help everyone bond and move forward with fond memories of their loved ones.

What started as the Ryan Clark Memorial has blossomed into something far larger with the addition of six other honouree families. It means more to them all than we can possibly fathom.

The special trophies named after the group of seven have created moments of great pride for the players who’ve won them. Word has gotten around about what these trophies mean and there’s such a tremendous respect that’s developed among the recipients and the families.

Midget hockey has always been something of a potential gong show, particularly at year-end tournaments when the testosterone starts raging among combative guys. It’s still midget hockey, but incidents at this tournament are few and far between because there’s such a significant meaning attached to the reason for being on the ice and the precious nature of life in general.



Don Bodger

About the Author: Don Bodger

I've been a part of the newspaper industry since 1980 when I began on a part-time basis covering sports for the Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle.
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